There’s no such thing as too much exercise, right?
As it turns out, there is–and doing too much could have deadly consequences.
In a press release posted earlier this week, researchers from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia recently uncovered that people who engage in extreme exercise could develop blood poisoning–something that, if left untreated, could cause septic shock and death.
“The body has the ability to adapt and put a brake on negative immune responses triggered by extreme endurance events,” says Ricardo Costa, Ph.D., a researcher from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Monash University. “But if you haven’t done the training and you’re unfit–these are the people who can get into trouble. It’s crucial that anyone who signs up to an event, gets a health check first and builds a slow and steady training program, rather than jumping straight into a marathon, for example, with only a month’s training.”
Researchers initially came across these findings after monitoring people undergoing a range of extreme activities, including 24-hour running marathons or marathons extending over a several day time span. The results were published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.
To see if it affected their health adversely, researchers drew their blood before and after these extreme exercise events.
The biggest changes in these blood samples occurred for those who had not trained enough and were exposed to extreme weather conditions, such as a heat wave. This put their bodies under a lot of stress–and to cope, increased the levels of endotoxins in their blood. Normally, the body is able to counter these toxins, but extreme exercise prevented it from doing so. This caused these endotoxin levels to rise, causing blood poisoning and triggering septic shock.
Septic shock, if left untreated, can increase a person’s risk of death by more than 50 percent.
“Nearly all of the participants in our study had blood markers identical to patients admitted to hospital with sepsis,” says Costa. “That’s because the bacterial endotoxins that leach into the blood as a result of extreme exercise, triggers the body’s immune cells into action.”
But what does this mean for the general population? It’s simple, Costa says: If you’re planning on exercising for more than four hours, don’t. This, he says, is considered extreme exercise, and can increase your risk of blood poisoning. Instead, make sure to take enough breaks–and avoid exercising in extreme weather conditions as well.
“The body has the ability to adapt and put a brake on negative immune responses triggered by extreme endurance events,” says Costa. “But if you haven’t done the training and you’re unfit–these are the people who can get into trouble.”
What You Should Do
Want to get fit? Stick to 1 hour workouts and make sure to take plenty of breaks, say health experts. Doing too little isn’t good for your health, but doing too much could literally kill you.
Readers: How long do you usually work out?
Sources:
Extreme Exercise Linked to Blood Poisoning – ScienceDaily.com
The Impact of a 24-h Ultra-Marathon on Circulatory Endotoxin and Cytokine Profile (Study) – Thieme-connect.de
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